07/18/2016
In her second novel, Finn (Away from You) follows divorcée Pilgrim Jones from her privileged life in Switzerland to the wilds of Tanzania, offering a dark, wrenching story of loneliness, guilt, and life after tragedy. Abandoned by her international lawyer husband, Tom Lankester, for a mousy mutual acquaintance, Elise, Pilgrim struggles to regain her balance. Distracted by Tom’s betrayal, she causes an accident in the Swiss town of Arnau in which three schoolchildren are killed. Although cleared of any charges with the support of Detective Inspector Paul Strebel, Pilgrim, wracked with guilt and tormented by the accusations of the locals, seeks a fresh start in the remote Tanzanian village of Magulu. Pilgrim’s desire to live—alone—in such a place is unusual, and her presence piques the interest of Dorothea, the flamboyant local doctor, and Kessy, “a policeman without laws” who patrols the desolate no-man’s-land. As she gains familiarity with her surroundings, moving from village to village, Pilgrim comes to understand that none of the expats she meets is without baggage: not the sociopathic Ukrainian mercenary Martin Martins, nor grieving mother-cum-aid-worker Gloria, nor the skilled, damaged pilot Harry. The arrival of a macabre package—the remains of an albino man, said to contain a powerful curse—only implicate Pilgrim further in the mysteries of Tanzania. Finn’s sure-footed prose, an intricate, clever plot, and the novel’s powerful examination of cultural divides enrich this story, leading up to its shocking, brilliant conclusion as Pilgrim and the others search for salvation in an unforgiving land. (Sept.)
"Deeply satisfying. Finn is a remarkably confident and supple storyteller. [The Gloaming] deserves major attention."—John Williams, New York Times
"In this richly textured, intricately plotted novel, [Finn] assures us that heartbreak has the same shape everywhere. The Gloaming is chillingly cinematic in contrasting East Africa’s exquisite landscape with the region’s human needs. Yet even in a malevolent setting, Finn shows us acts of selflessness and redemption. Her fascination with the duality of Africa — “the most honest place on earth” — shines fiercely."—Lisa Zeidner, New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
"A psychologically astute thriller that belongs on the shelf with the work of Patricia Highsmith. Alternating chapters between two continents, the book is brilliant on the pervasiveness of corruption and the murkiness of human motivation. Here is a page-turner that leaves its reader wiser."—Karen R. Long, Newsday
"Masterfully timed, frightening in its precision and delivery... a haunting story about consequence that spans literal continents. My skin prickled with every chapter. This is a story that explores coping with loss and consequence, its plot spliced with the implicit mystery of those emotions."—Alibi
"This ambitious novel addresses age-old questions through the story of one woman's abrupt alienation from her own life. It's an immersive, atmospheric read that is difficult to shake."—Seven Days
"Suffice it to say that this is one of the most exhilarating, heartbreaking, and haunting novels that I have ever read—and I’ve read a great deal. Few other writers could rival Finn’s exquisite prose... The plot leaves you guessing, wanting more, not quite finished with the story when you’re forced to turn the last page."—Tethered by Letters/F(r)Online
"Brilliant... [The Gloaming] is a pure example of a literary page-turner, one that begins with an ending and ends with a new beginning, written by a very smart author."—Electric Literature
"Excellent. A wonderful book."—The Rumpus
"An intense and clever literary thriller."—Largehearted Boy
"A propulsive literary thriller. Finn, who writes with a psychological acuity that rivals Patricia Highsmith's, switches between Europe and Africa in tense alternating chapters, rewarding close attention. The book is terrific... subtle and thrilling. Remarkably well-paced and well-written... Don't expect to be able to set this book down or forget its haunted characters."—Kirkus Reviews, *starred* review
"[The Gloaming is] intense, raw, a story less about moving on with ones’ life than learning how to live aware of life’s messy, connective tissues. And of course, it’s a testament to the striking writing of its author, Melanie Finn."—Weird Sister
"Finn’s sure-footed prose, an intricate, clever plot, and the novel’s powerful examination of cultural divides enrich this story, leading up to its shocking, brilliant conclusion as Pilgrim and the others search for salvation in an unforgiving land."—Publishers Weekly
"Intense, impressive... Told with force, and bracing directness... It's a book that smashes into you."—The Guardian
"I rarely get as invested in the outcome of a novel as I did reading The Gloaming, but the empathies that Melanie Finn evokes in this powerful and unpredictable book are not casual; these traumas could be our own. These characters could be us. And so, the themes are familiar and unyielding: Pain. The past. That flyspeck point of convergence where they meet. The regrettable inevitability of everything that passes after that. And shame. Her prose is hypnotic and knife-precise and at times so beautiful it’s unnerving. I didn’t read this book so much as I experienced it and it will haunt me for a very, very long time." —Jill Alexander Essbaum, New York Times-bestselling author of Hausfrau
"A thought-provoking novel... deftly set in a world of mercenaries, philanthropists and witch doctors in polyester suits, the book asks how one atones for atrocity."—Tatler
"There's an eerie, existential quality about Melanie Finn’s new novel... A paean to a magical continent of silent forests, slow, dark rivers, wild green mangroves; a world populated by child ghosts, haunted whites and AK-47-toting rebels. It is through this heart of darkness, a landscape rich in possibilities, that Pilgrim stumbles towards the light."—New Zealand Herald
"Full of empathy and intelligence... The ending is startlingly optimistic and very moving."—Sydney Morning Herald
"Compelling."—The Australian
★ 2016-06-22
A propulsive literary thriller toggles between Switzerland and Tanzania.In a concise, elegant seven paragraphs, Finn (Shame, 2015) opens her second novel with the intimations of an affair. The narrator, Pilgrim Jones, has discovered that her husband, a globally influential human rights lawyer, has abandoned her, and his deception sets up a lethal incident. Pilgrim awakens in a Swiss hospital, having smashed her car into a village bus stop, killing three children. For reasons that only gradually come into focus, she decamps for Tanzania, where the bush is "a tangled, knitted green stretching over the earth, a hot wool itching with insects, snakes, and birds." Finn, who writes with a psychological acuity that rivals Patricia Highsmith's, switches between Europe and Africa in tense alternating chapters, rewarding close attention. The book is terrific on diplomatic detail and police craft, the murkiness of human motivation and the pervasiveness of corruption. The parallels on both continents are subtle and thrilling. The Swiss investigator of Pilgrim's car crash, preparing to face the dead children's families, lets the rain pummel him: "It was better if he looked wet and bedraggled; his sympathy would appear more authentic." Finn, who grew up partially in Kenya, writes supplely about Africans and the whites who move among them. The novel travels 175 pages in Pilgrim's voice, then switches into third-person segments centered on each of five characters who've crossed her path: the Swiss police inspector, a tiny Tanzanian doctor, a Midwestern American bent on starting an AIDS orphanage, a Ukrainian mercenary, and a drunken white ne'er-do-well. Each has been altered by atrocity, a quality that Finn imbues with familiarity. "Tom would say to me that violence becomes an identity," Pilgrim thinks, "how people see themselves in the world, and to ask them to stop being violent is asking them to erase themselves." Remarkably well-paced and well-written, this novel ends with an existentially astute finale. Don't expect to be able to set this book down or forget its haunted characters.